#Rewatched 3 May 2023

[brian-in-finance]

Gif: @clairelizfraser

S03E02 Surrender • 17 September 2017 Official Script

Outlander Rewatch 2023 Countdown To Season 7

Favourite Word

Dinna be feart, Fergus. I watched Milady do this many times. — Jamie

Gifs: @sassenach4life

Favourite Line

My leg. It’s not there, as anyone can plainly see. And yet it pains me terrible sometimes... even wakes me up at night. Fergus, the lad, he’ll likely feel the same wi’ his hand... feeling a hurt in a part of ye that’s lost. And that’s jes a hand. Claire was yer heart. — Ian

Gifs: @lulu-tan79

Favourite Image

Jamie’s silhouette crosses under the ARCH, carrying the dressed deer across his shoulders. As he approaches the front of the house, he looks up and sees -- CLAIRE, WITH A BASKET OVER HER ARM, picking herbs in the garden next to the front door. She looks up as he approaches, and gives him a radiant smile.

Remember… I have always trusted you, Milord. So, I think I am most lucky. In one stroke, I have become a man of leisure, non? — Fergus Fraser

31st of 75 • Wednesday, 3 May 2023

[absolutebl]

Favorite first kiss?

Favorite First Kisses!

Doozie of a question. Here we go...

1 Until We Meet Again

I mean COME on. How could this not be the #1 best first kiss? It's so gentle and so good and so hot and just... EVERYTHING a first kiss should be in life. A++ romantic

2 Old Fashion Cupcake

THE LONG SHOT. The desperation. The finger bite. The oozing THIRST. A++ quality desire incarnate

3 Why R U? Korea

Korea, scooping in a top spot? It's just the body language, the striding in, dropping the backpack, the surprised MUTUAL response (no flinching), and all the yearning. A++ want

(Foreshadow: This may... or may not... be my top kiss of 2023.)

4 Bad Buddy

Seriously boys, BOYS! You had to make it so beautiful and so painfully heartbreaking at the same time? Thanks for that. A++ pain

(They may have a light kiss before this one, I can't remember. I keep meaning to do a BB rewatch but I have to gear up for it.)

5 Semantic Error

I mean, well, OBVIOUSLY. Just A++ they perfect, no notes

6 Second Chance

I am pretty sure this one got best kiss of 2021. All you KinnPorche stans are sleeping on this little gem = Tong delivering what amounts to BLs best drunk kiss ever. FIGHT ME. A++ confused needy babies

7 About Youth

Speaking of sweet af first kisses from first timers. This one drips in sweet innocence including a rainbow and some smiles. A++ first sweethearts

8 HIStory 2 Crossing the Line

Okay the actors kiss for a dream sequence before this but this is the characters' first kiss, so that kinda counts, right? It's just such a pretty kiss. A++ stay on target, stay on theme, utterly unique

9 My Dear Gangster Oppa

Ya know this show is just so much fun and so solid and this pair deserves more accolades then their previous series afforded them. A++ finally, well done you

10 I Feel You Linger in the Air

Okay it's just all the dialogue and execution around this kiss is great and then the kiss ALSO doesn't disappoint. Plus permission and snark and so much more. A+++ class & storytelling

Also, whaan (sweet) is a really good word to have seared into one's brain in Thailand. Useful when ordering drinks.

Okay they kinda kissed before but this is the one that counts:

I didn't know how else to put this category but I had to include it so I could include this kiss:

We Best Love

The crying bridge-top kiss. I mean COME ON. One of my favorite kisses of all time. I love it when the weep+smooch.

La Pluie

Honestly? All their kisses are good so I can't remember if this was their first but, it great. Frankly, off all their kisses it's not my absolute favorite, but they deserve a mention because... wow boys. Just... wow.

The Eclipse

Because of their dynamic I am pretty sure there was something before this one, but this one lives in my head.

Be Loved In House I Do

I'm not sure this counts as their first because I can't remember the sequence in BLIHID (he through line is a bit wonky in my brain) but it is a killer kiss.

There should be more Taiwan but...

The thing is, once a Taiwanese BL starts delivering great kisses they just keep it up. So unless the narrative puts particularly strong plot intent on the "firstness" of that first kiss, they just get all sexy domestic muddled in my head.

Honor the Crumbs - Sides & Shorts, Best First Kisses

Some More

"You can kiss me, heong."

2 Moons 2 - MingKit

It's just such a sweetly perfect first kiss of the very first time variety. Before About Youth, we had these two.

Cutie Pie - NueaSin

Kissing the kiss that won them their own series. No other audition needed. In the land of amazing kisses, and up against Zee, this ONE stood way out. Very good boys. Very good indeed.

kiss x kiss x kiss - perfect scandal (AKA the office ep)

Look, this is the kiss we should have gotten in Cherry Magic. It's great, both the hesitant "permission given" first part and everything that comes next. Track this down if you can, it's a lovely little short from Japan.

My Secret Love - TimMai

Very minor side dishes but they were all I cared about in this show. They gave me the kiss I wanted even if they didn't get the screen time the deserved.

You're My Sky - SanAi

We all know they stole this show, not that there was much to steal.

Kiss Me Again - PeteKao

Maybe not the best as a kiss, but it was 2016 and this was SO SIGNIFICANT to the fandom, to the plot of the show, to coming out, to EVERYTHING. This is THE TayNew kiss. I will never forget it. Never.

I don't have a good screen cap but MarkOuwen's kiss in the taxi in Love is Science? was also fantastic.

(source)

Kisses as of Dec 2023. Not responsible for great first kisses that come after this date.

Opinion and preferences based on these ideas of good kiss chemistry.

I want you thoughts, RT and add your favorites or leave a comment. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

MORE?

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/01/2024 Daily Recap

TLDR; Thank you for the help!; HoistTheAdsReceipts; HoistThePetitionCampaign; UK News; Basingstroke Comic Con; Cast & Crew Sightings; Samba's birthday; Watch Partys; In Person Meetups; Articles; #OhBloysHeMad; Videos; Misc; Love Notes; DailyDarby/Tonight's Taika

Hey everyone! Thank you for all the kind folks that gave me feedback on the Renewal Repo! I'm still getting stuff back filled but please feel free to check it out now, it's got the current events I'm aware of and I'm keeping it up to date with everything daily that comes across my feeds. There's also a contact form for anything I'm missing or you'd like to add!

OFMD Renewal Repository

== Hoist The Ads Receipts ==

So technically this was yesterday, sorry I put it in my todo folder and then completely forgot to add it! So for those of you asking about receipts for the Hoist the Ads Charity donations. There are more images on those links but I'm running out of image allotment for this post so please visit the tumblr or other socials to read the rest. Instagram Link / Tumblr / Twitter

==Hoist The Petition Campaign!==

The @SaveOFMDCrew is hosting a #HoistThePetition campaign to try and boost Signatures on the Petition. You have a chance to win some OFMD stickers. If you don't have twitter you are welcome to message me and I'll message LC on your behalf or find alternative contacts for you! For those with twitter: LCWebsXOXO

== UK News ==

As always, thanks @lamentus1 for all the information on the UK front! Basingstroke Comic Con is happening on May 10-12 2024 at the Hampshire Court Hotel in Basingstoke, UK

BasingStrokeComic Con Facebook Ticket Links Some cool news on the twitter front, @lamentus1 tweeted the SunTV Magazine editor Steven Corbett and he responded!

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

It's Samba's birthday!!!! He sent us a lovely photo on IG

Looks like he's feeling the love! He's trending! (and so are oranges haha- thank you @lucyrosebutler for catching the trends!) He's been out here liking everyone's comments so he's definitely seeing everyone's well wishes! Thanks for making him feel loved everyone!

Kristian Nairn gave some more updates! Looks like they're sorted for Wee John Monday! More info tomorrow!

==Reminders for Upcoming Events==

=#OurFlagMeansDeadloch=

Last day of #OurFlagMeansDeadloch tomorrow!

Watch Party Hashtags:

#OurFlagMeansDeadloch

#SaveOFMD

#AdoptOurCrew

=#StewAsACrew=

February 4th is National Soup Day! Share soup pics, jokes, recipes, etc while rewatching Season 1 of OFMD! 

Watch Party Hashtags:

#StewAsACrew

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

== In Person Meet-Ups!==

Are you near Burbank, CA? Tues, Feb 13 there will be a walking processional to celebrate #OFMD! Thank you @aimeekitty for sharing this!

== Articles ==

The big article that's got everyone's attention today was this pile of nonsense from the Vulture about "The Truth Behind Max's Cancellation Spree". If you don't want to give them the satisfaction of having clicks, you can go under the cut on this post to see screenshots of the article.

The Truth Behind Max's Cancellation Spree

This has once again triggered our fun and exciting hashtag: #OhBloysHeMad and a new one #Don'tStreamOnMax.

There are some tips from the #SaveOFMD Crew though about Hashtags and cross-posting

Also something to note....

==Videos==

New episode of Movies with Marty! Our Flag Means Death (2023) S2 Eps 3 & 4 Reaction | FIRST TIME WATCHING

==Ad Campaigns Up and Running!==

Our Street Level Ads are live in New York!

== Love Notes ==

I am very tired tonight lovelies. I had a lot to say but it's been a very long day, so I'm going to call it quits a bit earlier tonight. I think this picture sums up my feelings pretty well. <3 you all, see you tomorrow.

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Tonight's Darby picture is courtesy of @jacemerlyn on twitter. Thank you for this gem! Taika's picture courtesy of his instagram.

[jennaissantes]

LOVE IS LIKE AN OATMEAL — sim jake smau

PAIRING: detective!jake x detectivecoworker!reader [reader is female]

SYPNOSIS: working in the nypd was already chaotic as it was. but working with jake sim, professional idiot and genius detective who also happened to be your #1 enemy was more than you could handle. but youre y/n l/n and youre competitive as fuck so who cares? as long as we keep it profesh and dont fall in love or anything..

inspired by the show Brooklyn 99

GENRE: brooklyn 99 au, fluff, crack, enemies to lovers, little to no angst, my take on humour pls

WARNINGS: profanity, a lot of quotes from the show bc its iconic!! more tba

STATUS: DISCONTINUED

STARTED: 21st feb 2023 ENDED: -

FEATURES: heeseung, jay, sunghoon and riki from enhypen, yunjin from le ssera, @amakumos, jungkook from bts + others

RELEASE DATE: mostly like.... by may or something (could be before that you can never predict when it comes to me i might like js start impulse posting brou)

AUTHORS NOTE: hello everybody. i am making a comeback. so i js rewatched b99 for the nth time and i was like BOOM fic idea,,, anyways i am so excited to start this huhu. startign a smau again after my four cursed failed smaus in my old acc pls dont flop this 🤗 haha anyways i hope u guys r excited bc i am 🫣 also i think i did a great job with the banner huhu

TAGLIST: OPEN!! 📢 (those of you who had sent in an ask earlier when this was supposed to be a fic pls send in an ask again omg😭)

send an ask to be added to the taglist (dms and comments will not be considered!!)

👮🏻‍♂️THE BULLPEN👮🏻‍♂️

…CRIME STATS…

1 ➖ sim: 24, l/n: 22

2 ➖ meep morp….zeep 🤖

3 ➖ mlepnos?????

4 ➖ bultaoreune

5 ➖ cantgetheadiosis

6 ➖ yns ex from hs

7 ➖ hanzuru yunyu ???

8 ➖ ? mark ?

9 ➖ oh shes beautiful [written]

10➖ QUICHE

11 ➖ jake being romanticky

...

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: KinnPorsche, and Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist Edition (Part 2)

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I conclude a two-part series on my thoughts on KinnPorsche, my very first Thai BL, and the impact that I think KP has had on the Thai BL industry since 2022.]

Top of the morning (or whatever time zone you're in) to ya! Yesterday, I ruminated on KinnPorsche's foundation in regards to how the show wasn't as innovative as newbie members of the Thai BL fandom, like myself, may have thought in 2022 -- but was rather a great example of a show that derivatively used a lot of excellent past Thai BL influences in order to make a newly stylized show that I think, for the most part, worked well.

Harkening back to the outline for these two pieces that I laid out yesterday, this post will concentrate on:

3) How I think KP has impacted how other studios approach, market, and write Thai BLs now, and 4) A quick passing thought on BOC's own continued influence on the Thai BL genre and industry since 2022, particularly by way of Dead Friend Forever.

Before I get fully into point 3, I wanted to take a second to offer one more thought on an element about the KinnPorsche series itself that I didn't unwind on much yesterday, and one that'll connect with point 3 in a second. I mentioned yesterday that I personally (in my own opinion, I am accountable here) don't think that some of the VegasPete elements of the show helped the show's flow and continuity at all times. After my rewatch, I think the show could have stood for more episode editing to better its flow. I very much know how beloved VegasPete are in much of the KP fandom (thanks so much to dear friend @wen-kexing-apologist for the conversations about this during my rewatch!), so I don't want to pooh-pooh very hard, because at the same time, I think Bible as an actor was valuable to the show regarding Vegas's interactions with Porsche -- that side storyline offered intrigue and depth particularly into Porsche's mindset at the end of the series. At the same time, I think the VegasPete scenes contained enough questionable takes on trauma and attraction that I think now contribute to the show's legend and status as a uniquely heaty drama, but (in my opinion, people, I own this!), I think some of those takes could have been removed, smoothed, or tamped down for editing's sake, vis à vis those questionable takes in particular.

Taking VegasPete's trauma-and-kink-driven storyline, and KinnPorsche's romps and unravellings, into consideration, along with the show's excellent use of comedy as a plot driver: I think that KinnPorsche has clearly had an impact on how subsequent "heat" BL dramas have been created and marketed since KP's run. I'm thinking in particularly of some big ones (heh heh), including 2023's Only Friends, and 2023-24's Playboyy (which I did not finish, FYI).

Heat -- and the increasing use and management of it -- has long been an important element of the Thai BL industry. Like I said yesterday, MaxTul (my beloved) were pioneers of it in Together With Me and Manner of Death, and MAME consecrated episodic heat in 2019's TharnType, and even introduced enough of it notably in 2018's Love By Chance by way of those awesome spicy AePete scenes. And the WONDERFUL Lovely Writer offered meta commentary about the dependence that the Thai BL/Series Y industry has on heat in order to drive in fans, oftentimes to the detriment of more interesting and/or fulfilling and/or emotionally complicated plots.

KinnPorsche's lengthy marketing, from its Filmania days in 2020 and 2021, to its eventual 2022 premiere through Be On Cloud, certainly helped to drive interest and intrigue in the show, from the debut pairing of MileApo, to the clear use of heat that the show was promising before its airing. (Red Peafowl could never.)

Looking at the moment we are in right now -- early spring of 2024, with the ability to look back on the conclusions of both Only Friends and Playboyy -- I see the influence that KinnPorsche had on these shows being HUGELY marketed as cutting-edge-entrées to a high-heat and high-interest slice of Thai BL, particularly for Only Friends, which was GMMTV's own first step into really high-heat territory.

Both of the shows ended in meh territory (and both shows were written by the same writer in Den Panuwat, who may very well have a monogamy kink). Both shows ended up putting pure monogamy on a pedestal, and seemed to judge extra-monogamous sex as a "mistake" that was worth rectifying through "true," i.e., monogamous, love.

I posit, and I'm glad, that KinnPorsche did NOT go this route. Extracurricular sex wasn't even in the show's genes anyway, but -- the heat that KP marketed at the time of its premiere was solely associated with the centralized romances of the two main pairings. KinnPorsche didn't have to get extra-monogamously messy in its bones (huh huh) in order to be hot -- and it makes me curious to wonder why shows like Only Friends and Playboyy felt the need to promote relational messiness as a way to hype up their heat, all of which kinda putzed out in the end run of both of those shows.

Of course, we've still had heat in many other shows since KP's premiere, including in directions that roundly surprised the larger fandom, such as Pit Babe's take on omegaverse, and maybe even the vets Earth and Mix getting hot and heavy in Moonlight Chicken, a direction that Aof Noppharnach has been known to not take for the sake of keeping the ratings on his shows kid-friendly. But I do find it interesting that the heavy promotion of Only Friends and Playboyy led the fandom to think that these shows were going to have progressive takes on sex and sexuality, when they ultimately did not (I'd even argue that both of these shows ended up being judgemental of sexual experimentation). And while I don't think KinnPorsche's takes on heat were necessarily progressive, I do think the marketing of their actors getting into that, particularly as compared to Apo's previous career path in leaving acting for a while, was notable -- and as well, the care that the show took to depict heat scenes with excellent cinematography makes many of those scenes so memorable today.

I want to make one final note about KinnPorsche's and Be On Cloud's general influence on the Thai BL industry, in that I'm impressed by their investment in generally good-to-great writing and directing. As I overviewed yesterday, KinnPorsche heavily featured veterans from across the BL landscape, and Be On Cloud's latest serial offering, Dead Friend Forever, continued that trajectory, having an OG BL director in Ma-Deaw Chookiat partly take the helm of that show. Very importantly, Ma-Deaw Chookiat has been the screenwriter and director of a number of seminal Thai queer films and shows, including 2019's Dew, and more impactfully, 2007's The Love of Siam, which is considered a harbinger of the television Thai BL industry, and a film that has notably influenced important Thai BL creators, especially New Siwaj, who doesn't hesitate to include references to LoS in many of his shows, including Until We Meet Again, My Only 12%, and more. Chookiat has also screenwritten and/or directed three shows written by the notable Thai Y novelist, Sammon, in DFF, Manner of Death, and Triage. Sammon has been on a tear recently, as she will be the screenwriter for BOC's upcoming drama, 4 Minutes, as well as Spare Me Your Mercy, the hugely anticipated BL drama starring Tor Thanapob and singer Jaylerr.

Going back to my thoughts earlier about big marketing of big BLs: we've seen some duds recently from shows that were marketed at a big tip, from OF, to Playboyy, to Idol Factory's The Sign. From what I've gathered from the Tumblr tag regarding The Sign -- it seems that show suffered mostly from a lack of editorial context and plot sensibility and tightness, and that there could have been a good show, if the show had spent less money on CGI, and more money on the script.

Be On Cloud seems to mostly be putting its money where its pen is. I say "mostly" as a caveat. Was the ending of DFF fantastic? No, and I totally admit as much: while the show mostly stuck to its slasher genre conventions (thank you so much to @lurkingshan, my genre guru, for explaining this to me), the show seemed to poop out in the end by giving us a PheeJin BL ship, instead of Phee's and Jin's gruesome deaths. Womp womp. The pull of BL, and the need for clean-ish endings for the fujoshi crowd, may still be too economically enticing for studios, including Be On Cloud itself.

But I'm optimistic for BOC's upcoming shows, with the talent and money they're putting into scripts and directing. And we know that BOC's first film, the non-queer Man Suang, was an important artistic point for the studio as it continues its investment in MileApo and experimental content to market within and outside of Thailand. It was important enough that Dead Friend Forever, emanating from the Thai BL world, took on an entirely different genre instead, and literally presented that back to BL fans on a silver platter. I hope 4 Minutes can tread similar experimental territory. And I'm glad to see Be On Cloud being able to invest in high-quality writing and directing after the publicly major obstacles the studio experienced last year during the Build Jakapan scandal.

From the time I discovered Thai BLs in 2022, to now: I would not have expected KinnPorsche and Be On Cloud to start such a journey in my personal drama fan life. As well, considering how many damn shows I've now watched from Thailand, I also didn't expect this rewatch of KinnPorsche to be so much fun. AND, I truly didn't realize I had this much to say about it -- but there was a lot of say, especially by way of how referential the original KinnPorsche series was, which touched my little nerdy BL heart.

With that, I say ta-ta to my entrée to this fun world of Thai BLs, and move on to the next one!

[OKAY! We are kind of back of the grind, although my ability to watch dramas has really been hampered by real life obligations and schedules. BUT: I'm trucking along through War of Y, and I have some fun rewatches coming up in The Eclipse (my first-ever GMMTV BL), as well as two new-to-me dramas in GAP (the first GL on the list, WOO!) and My School President, which I can't wait for.

I've made a few tiddly adjustments to the list below, including adding Dead Friend Forever as an important addition, and I'm deep in my giggles with 23.5, which I am LOVING. ONWARDS! For more details about the ongoing list, please checkity-check here!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) (review here) 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here)  36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist (part 1 here)

...interrupting the OGMMTVC list here to watch War of Y (2022) (watching) in chronology to decide if it gets listed...

37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine “Genre BLs” and Internalized/Externalized Homophobia in GMMTV Shows  39) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 40) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 41) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 42) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 43 La Pluie (2023) (review coming) 44) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 45) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 46) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 47) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 48) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew) 49) Ossan’s Love Returns (2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 50) Dead Friend Forever (2024) (thoughts here) 51) 23.5 (2024)]

[fundieshaderoom]

Great BreakDown of a February Olivia Plath Interview

Notes:

Olivia grew up believing that California was an evil place.

The interviewer pointed out that the show started with the older Plath children wanting to move away from the strict religious upbringing but now it seems that only Olivia is still wanting that distance. Olivia specifically notes that Moriah mostly dresses and eats different rather digging deep into family dysfunction and other more meaningful beliefs.

Olivia watched the first 3 seasons and stopped at season 4 because she felt that was a dark time and did not stand by some of her actions. It would have been a hard rewatch for her.

Olivia realized she was dissatisfied with life at age 14 or 15 but did not know why. She then realized she had no deep emotional connections. Around that time, she cut her hair to her shoulders and began wearing eyeliner (which was a no-no in her home). At 16 or 17, she apologized to her father and the church via a spoken letter.

Olivia met Ethan at a family conference. Years later, Ethan wrote a letter to Olivia's father. Olivia's father then called Kim (note: not Barry!) to discuss. The two families agreed that Ethan and Olivia could talk on Skype for one hour every three months.

Olivia has been dating! It is hard for her to get past the first date. She has been struggling with shame due to growing up in purity culture.

In regards to the statement Ethan made about how Olivia should be making 3 meals a day, more was said but cut out due to TLC avoiding politics. Olivia now asks men right off the bat if they cook.

The interviewer was confused when first watch the show. He did not understand why such a "pure" family would want reality tv fame. He then asked how Ethan and Olivia were approached with the idea.

Kim invited TLC to film Olivia and Ethan's wedding without asking because she knew Olivia would say no. It was not shown on the show, because to release, it required Ethan and Olivia's consent too. Ethan and Olivia then made a list of requirements to join the TV show. At this time, Olivia and Ethan could not see the siblings. In order to do the show, seeing the kids was added to the list.

Olivia will be in Season 6. She wants viewers to see what happens when someone actually walks away from the fundie lifestyle.

Olivia loves the TLC crew.

Olivia talks about the initial separation she had with Ethan. Ethan agreed they could live in 3 different places in 3 years.

Ethan agreed to marriage counseling during the first separation. He went to three sessions and then quit.

Olivia said Ethan said if his hypothetical son came out as gay, he would disown him. Olivia is strongly opposed to that.

Ethan tried to get her back during the divorce process but Olivia was not interested. They did not have any relationship at this point.

The Plaths allegedly had a party when they found out about the divorce.

Ethan is still very close with Nathan Meggs, Olivia's brother. Ethan heavily leaned on Nathan during the divorce, which affect Olivia's relationship with her brother.

Olivia still has a relationship with Ethan's extended family in Minnesota.

Olivia is willing to have a conversation with some Plaths to connect the storylines. Olivia said, "if this turns into a circus, I'm walking away" (quoting Moriah's song about her lol).

Olivia said WTP was not producer driven, rather "cast-members" drove the narratives of each season.

Olivia said 2023 was a tough year. In March, she split from Ethan. In May, her younger brother died unexpectedly and she had to see the Meggs family with whom she's estranged. In this February 2024 interview, she says she now has peace.

Olivia had not seen her family of origin in years, specifically her parents. Her parents have blocked her and all other siblings who have left the fold. She has not been able to talk to her youngest siblings, even her brother who died.

Lydia Meggs helped Olivia through their brother's death and funeral.

She is looking for a man who is okay for it to not be a forever thing.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesdaypost year in review

this year brought to you by viewers like you. thank you! i still do not know how to thank everyone for their incredible generosity during the Late July/Early August Moving Catastrophe Badtimes and im still feelin some kinda way about it. thank you.

took eight weeks completely off, more than any other year so far

overnight traveled for work for the first time

moved cross country with Mack to face dangers untold and hardships unnumbered

bought an actual for-real couch and not a futon

got Phil

(unrelated to Phil) i got spayed after almost ten years of begging and pleading various medical professionals, (also unrelated) got covid and RSV back to back

listening

fallow weeks: 8. i almost always have a tuesdaysong bc i am almost always listening to something. all of the tuesdaysongs are here:

particular favorites were Peel Me A Grape (Anita O’Day), top spotify song of the year Yeah Yeah Yeah (Blood Orchid), Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Wolf remixed by Sextile, Father Finlee (Spence Hood), A Minha Menina (Os Mutantes).

the very last tuesdaysong of the year is Sugar Rum Cherry by Duke Ellington, one of the few christmas songs i tolerate.

special shoutout to the austin underscore walker universe of podcasts, bc i mainlined A More Civilized Age (clone wars/star wars rewatch) while packing, and devoured P/alisade (the newest scifi season of F/riends at the Table) this month.

-

reading

fallow weeks: 11. pleased that i am killing the invisible rules in my head and including more articles instead of feeling guilty about Not Reading A Real Book!!! every week when i sit down to write the tuesdaypost. read a fuckton earlier this year bc i was procrastinating moving prep, have not read much since i moved.

article sources:

inoreader (the best free RSS feed/app imo)

The Markup (gold standard usage of data to show how various technologies are being used to harm the public good: you may have heard of the recent American bills to equalize internet service and fix organ donation grift. that was them)

Web 3 Is Going Just Great (crypto disasters)

404 Media (technology reporting, internet culture, also break a lot of data/legal/privacy scandals)

Remap (formerly Vice's video games division Waypoint, more active on podcasts and twitch but do have great personal essays about gaming longreads)

Retraction Watch (an important academic service but platformed a particularly virulent transphobe and let the comments devolve into a free for all. yes im still mad about this)

Krebs on Security (~once a month extremely long and thoughtful infosec writeups)

Data Colada (cover academic data whoopsies, currently being sued for their journalism)

the two authors i spent the most time with this year were Alexis Hall (romance novels and novellas) and Raymond Chandler's noir detective novels. i read 90% of Raymond Chandler's work in march and went insane about yet another sad bisexual man. Philip Marlowe the cat is named after his pet detective, the human Philip Marlowe.

march was kind of a banger for this category bc in one of what i consider the best tuesdayposts this year, i tried to break down why i fucking hated Frank Miller's Sin City comics so much.

other comics, but ones i loved: Spy X Family, Berserk, weird noir DC miniseries The Human Target.

-

watching

fallow weeks: 10

notable stuff i watched for the first time (according to letterboxd) that will stick in my head for a bit. some (The Night of the Hunter) i am so glad i watched once but do not feel the need to revist. some (Slipstream) fascinate me with how good they could have been. some (Twilight. all of them) were fun bc of the people i watched them with. the two i went particularly deranged over are The Big Sleep and Day of Anger. still feel very normal about them.

very heavy on crime and courtroom films this year!

television: very excited for s2 of Blue Eye Samurai, Interview With The Vampire, Spy X Family.

i should loop back and finish Black Lagoon, Adventure Time (completely forgot i rewatched most of that this spring), and The Big O. that last one is throwing me a little bc (since i last checked) there is no freely available version with subtitles (i cannot find subtitles Period) and i'll be damned if i have to import a dvd. i can find the dub with subtitles but! i want to hear spike spiegel as mecha-batman :(

sort of lukewarm eh-i'll-get-around-to-it about s/tar wars shows. i have not watched a/hsoka At All or wrapped up the animated Resistance show. i'll pay attention when ando/r is airing again.

-

playing

fallow weeks: 10. way fewer than i would have guessed!

the trouble with this category is that it is exceptionally hard to find new good games (either ones i already own or ones that are free). it is almost completely prohibitively exhausting to trawl through the free category on steam. there's simply a lot of cruft out there. a very good thing (but also incredibly timeconsuming thing) i started this year was throwing games into various folders so the eight bajillion libraries i have are less overwhelming. i can safely ignore 80% of my epic games library, for example. the itch.io library is a whole separate weekend project i think.

got back into genshin for good or for ill, which took up most of the back half of the year.

go play ABZU. i am no longer asking.

i would like to go back and finish the RPG Gamedec, un-softblock myself in the RPG Weird West, and finish the visual novel Dead Man's Rest. i think i stalled out in Call of Juarez: Gunslinger bc there was a mexican standoff that my reflexes are simply not fast enough for/too much to pay attention to. i am excited to pick up that spooky fishing simulator DREDGE when i have fun money again.

completely forgot i spent most of jan/feb/march being annoyed at fallou/t 4 but having some fun in Far Harbor, also forgot i spent an entire month playing through Wolfenstein: The New Order but i am not compelled to play through it again. it was fun! but like many games after one playthrough my time with it is done!

-

making

fallow weeks: 17 (unsurprising, pretty low energy year as a whole as i recovered from covid rounds 1 and 2 and the frankly insane stress of moving).

wrote exactly one fic: some matters at the heart of cowboy western snap shirts: why they are so and some of the implications of their being so, i would like to write more next year but i don't really have the brainpower. i hope this changes soon.

the baby blanket i started last year is still not done but the baby is still under a year so i have a very narrow window of time.

dyed some couch covers im still very pleased with

wrote an extremely long but very well received gallery wall guide

recipes: 12. sort of shocked by this? i am becoming an incrementally better cook and slowly finding recipes i both like and can successfully execute. found the fortitude to caramelize onions, for example. quick pickled red onions, for another thing. big year for protein or greens on top of beans and rice. faves included: cuban-style pork shoulder, hellofresh peruvian chicken, red lentil soup, white bean/kale/rice bowls

i would like to be less terrified about cooking fish. i would like to eat more fish.

and of course, the biggest project of all, acquired Phil. here is my very favorite photo ive ever taken of a cat

[yellowloid]

my experience at am's show (rock in roma, ippodromo delle capannelle - 16/07/2023)

SO you know the drill by now this is the compulsory recap post i need to write because i'm terrified of forgetting about things and i also have so much more footage this time around (i basically recorded the whole concert while in paris i kinda did but idk i had much less stuff it was my first time so i was just too overwhelmed ajfnwidjsj). you knew it was coming i just needed to sort my thoughts out and i know some of those things have already been said but idc i'm writing them down anyway + i rewatched all my videos so i have a lot to say so LET'S GO

• first of all i want to preface this by saying that it was +40° degrees in rome and gates were opened at 3pm. opening bands started at ~6:30 and am came on stage at 9:40. needless to say everyone was cooking under the sun and slowly losing our collective minds i swear i've never drunk so much water my entire life and still felt like i was shrinking

• it was also my first proper concert standing in a pit + i was lucky enough to have tickets for the closest section to the stage and kind of a decent view despite the fact that i'm literally 5'2

• still i confirmed my opinion that i very much prefer seated tickets (not a big fan of standing in a crowd i must admit) ESPECIALLY when it comes to summer concerts because there was literally NO AIR just weed smoke and most importantly sweat i swear i couldn't breathe. we were fairly close to the stage but at what cost

• i wasn't particularly excited about the opening acts (as i wasn't for inhaler back in may) BUT i have to say they both slayed so hard??? willie j healey was so fucking cute and thoughtful with the crowd (we were under the shadow of the stage but the more far back section of the pit was directly under the scorching sun his whole set and he kept asking if they were okay) and the hives hyped up the crowd so fucking much??? their stage presence was incredible everyone loved them

• the breaks in between opening acts and am were filled with the festival replaying the same harry styles/rosalia/*random italian trapper* songs over and over again and at some point the crowd was about to riot because FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TURN THAT SHIT OFF not even joking when i say we heard the same hs song at least 30 times i swear dante alighieri used that as inspiration to write his inferno

• everyone was sweaty dirty tired and kinda fucked up from the sun and by the time am was about to come on stage i was contemplating my chances of not passing out and praying to god clinging to the bit of energy i still had in me to hold on for just an hour and a half more

• just making it clear this wasn't in any way their fault they came on at the time they were supposed to and everything turned out fine it was just. concerts in rome in the middle of july are.........something

• BUT ANYWAY after hours of us slowly decomposing it was finally time for am!!!!!!!!!

• they opened with sculptures and honestly THANK GOD because (maybe unpopular opinion? idk idc argue with the wall) that is just how it should be. not a big fan of brianstorm as an opener

• alex introduced teddy picker by saying "haven't you heard? teddy is back!"

• he also introduced the view with "let's go back to the very beginning" at which my heard did a bit of a !!!!

• after the view and before 4/5 he randomly went "feeling professional... 🎶 tonight 🎶

• he was feeling sooooo silly the whole show (<3) but he really went crazy with the spoken antics during 4/5

• he clapped his hands as he sang "with coloured old grey whistle test👏 lights👏" which weirdly scratched something just right in my brain

• "and that's unheard of... here in roma or anywhere else for that matter... nobody's done that!"

• he changed the lyrics and went "the only time that I stop laughing is to breathe or steal a kiss" and then proceeded to send a kiss to the crowd

• "four stars out of five... why don't you put that in your [pile]? / four stars out of five... ten times out of nine"

• "four stars out of five... that's right... that's why i like it! 😜" at the very end, said in the most adorable tee-hee way i can't even begin to describe it

• the piano interlude before high was sprinkled with the saddest series of "why... why... why..." ever uttered by man 💔

• after high he said " fantastic! ... what a night"

• "i wanna tell you about a girl that i made up... 💁‍♂️ ages ago 💁‍♂️" as an introduction to arabella

• i'm sure you've seen the video going around but during arabella he noticed a fan was (i think?) crying and asked "are you okay?" before resuming his singing

• "the horizon tries but it's just not as kind on the eyes...... ‼️RRRRRRROMAAAAAAA‼️......... as arabella"

• after the song ended he thanked the crowd by going "good work everyone... jolly good. grazie"

• he thanked the crowd a lot, said grazie/grazie mille a lot, and frequently said roma instead of rome (idk why i found that cute but yeah <3) and his way of rolling his r's when speaking italian was just too adorable i wanted to put him in a blender and drink him as a smoothie

• the version of do me a favour that they've been playing lately sounds slightly softer than the original and i'm all for it. it amplifies the vibe of exhausted resignation that lingers in the lyrics and it just sounds so devastating i love it

• he lifted the mic stand during the song +  pretended to break something in half during the "to start to break in half" line and yeah. that was also what he was doing to my heart

• no he did not have a mullet he just arranged his hair in a way that made it seem like it for a split moment. why did i see people on twitter hoping for the mullet........DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS

• "tremendous.... thank you 💅"

• also about that rumour going around of him pointing at louise during the "may i call you her name" - he literally acted out the whole line, pointed to himself, then at a random hypothetical you, then sidestage; he was not pointing at anyone specifically + why would anyone want that song dedicated to them lmao like. did the people saying it's romantic read the lyrics or

• also you know who else was in the general direction of him pointing? that's right everybody. mr jamie cook himself. maybe he uses he/she pronouns and alex wants to call someone jamie's name. have you considered that

• okay i'm sorry enough with the bullshit

• he said something during cornerstone and right before dancefloor that i caught on video but i can't really understand what he says so i'll probably end up posting those bits to see if we can figure out wtf he was on about

• "crawling back to you..... ‼️OH‼️ ever thought of calling when you've had a few"

• "🎶 ~rooomaaaaa~ 🎶.... thank you for having us everybody, what a beautiful audience.... soooo predictable i knowwww what you're thinkiiiing"

• he was so obsessed with crooning "roma" every chance he got <3 the silly <3333

• "lone ranger riding through an open space... THANKS A LOT in my mind when she's not right there beside me"

• now a list of random things he does at nearly every show that i still found very endearing:

- the "squeezed me very tightly" bit which is always so 💞💞💞

- "NO! you can't call me her name" with the NO said in the most 'child throwing a tantrum but make it cute' way

- the way he directed matt during the mirrorball intro and matt going 'y'all hear sumn?'

- "5......0......5......"

- him swaying his hips in a way that made everyone's knees buckle in a 10-mile radius

• about the interactions with the others: he didn't interact with them that much, i think he didn't even scissor with jamie during the body paint outro :( BUT we got the directing matt bit before mirrorball + a shout out to tom rowley

• i think in paris i noticed it less because i was seated, or maybe i just noticed it in a different way because i got some different songs (star treatment with the green/purple lights, pretty visitors with the red ones), but still - the lights are incredible and the fact that they create different lighting games for each song (like the blue ones for body paint or the golden ones for am songs) is so cool and fascinating i was mesmerised

• about the crowd: i made the mistake of getting into a telegram group of people who were going to see them and most of them were such casual fans they even believed the fake setlist that was going around a while ago as a joke on twitter 😭 the one with songs like the jeweller's hands. my brother in christ that's never going to happen

there were people going like "if they play r u mine i'm gonna die" and like bruh i appreciate the naivety but it's so painfully obvious they're gonna play it at least have a bit of creativity with your wishful thinking 😔

generally speaking the crowd was really REALLY hyped for am classics and wpsia/fwn oldies, while they were mostly completely dead during the car tracks it was disappointing to say the least. once again i was the only one popping my pussy

• BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS. i was so fucking scared they wouldn't play cornerstone and perfect sense but mostly the latter bc it's much less likely to be played... and it meant so much to me to hear them live, i didn't get either of them at the paris show so i just. ugh. they're in my top 5 am songs if not my absolute favourites and they just mean so much i fucking needed to hear them

• AND THEY PLAYED THEM BOTH. they did it for ME. cornerstone had me so emotional and i'm not joking when i say perfect sense had me ugly sobbing while singing along

• i just. i love that song so much. he just looked so small on that stage singing such vulnerable lyrics, and even tho the crowd was mostly dead (rude if you ask me) he still finished the song by sending a kiss and saying the nth "grazie mille" and i just wanted to hug him so bad i was literally devastated i love him so much

• we also got the jet skis/star treatment/iwby mashup!!!!! most of the tiktok fans had no idea what was happening and kept singing the original lyrics while i once again popped my pussy rapping along with him. i'm so glad he decided to do it and i got to hear it live!!!! it just sounds so damn good ugh

• the setlist as a whole was everything i could've wished for i was so satisfied with it

• the show ended with him sending and catching kisses and just smiling so much i just wanted to tear him to pieces what who said that

• as usual they all sounded and looked INCREDIBLE and alex was just.......... ugh. the most gorgeous of boys. he's so beautiful it makes me SICK. the crowd was literally hypnotised by him, his charm and stage presence is CRAZY and everyone just can't help but stare at him in awe and reverence because his aura is just something else. no one does it like him fr. leaves me speechless every single time

• they're all so fucking beautiful and talented and seeing them feels like a fucking out-of-body experience every single time

• i miss them like air I MISS HIM LIKE AIR....... the pcd is hitting hard and i honestly have no idea wtf i'm gonna do with myself once tour is over and they yeet themselves out of the public scene for god knows how long i don't even want to think about it

• long story short i love them so much it literally hurts it's not even funny and i already want to see them again </3

• also bonus: after the show ended there was a HUGE traffic jam due to the fact that 35k people were trying to leave the place all at once SO we spent the next two hours (TWO HOURS) stuck in the parking lot exhausted dirty sweaty and still dying in the heat bc it was literally 1am but it was still so hot it was hell. then danza kuduro came on the radio and it was so random that was the last straw to send me k.o. for good

• overall crazy experience but yeah i love them so much i want to see them again sooooo bad </3 PLEASE COME BACK </3333

• so yeah that was my experience at rock in roma i hope you enjoyed my ramblings xx

[qianqiancandyjar]

Ninjavember 2023!

Here's completed version with a bunch of explaining below each picture! Just scroll down if you don't want to see me blabbering. (I tried to go short as much as possible)

(I have a lot of AUs and headcanons that only exist in my head and my sketchbooks. Forgive me for wanting to spill them out.)

Day 2: Randy was listening to music with earphones so he didn't know Theresa was sitting next to him. Imagine how embarrassed he would get when he knows.

Day 8: Tech-Ninja AU. It's about machinist Randy being set up by Mcfist for murdering the town hero Ninja with his invention, the Tech-Ninja armor. Then the spirit of the destroyed Nomicon travelled to his armor and become an AI, choosing him to be the next Ninja. So Randy accepted it and was determined to make up for what he caused, when nobody except Howard, the boss of Weinerman industries, trusted him.

Day 10: Apocalypse AU. It's about Randy lost the battle at the end of season 2 and became the prisoner of the Sorcerer. The Nomicon was handed to Howard before that, and they later recruited survivors to form a resistance against the Sorcerer. Then Randy was stanked, but instead of turning into a monster, he was brainwashed and given the power of creating his own red and black stank. And- You know what will happen. (Inspired by the Darkness of Randy Cunningham)

Day 13: Elemental trial AU. You can say it's my take on what will happen in season 3. The Carp god was under the cover of a random carpfish as Norisville mascot. After a series of events it was awaken and gave Randy the power of Ice Rage.

Day 14: I think there's more than just the blood of First Ninja's brothers, since nobody knows how to destank people at the beginning...

Day 17: The Warrior might have been living or sleeping there, waiting for some ninjas to wake him up or consult him about his forbidden arts. (Ha, It's kinda like Eclipsa in Star vs. the forces of Evil)

Day 18: Or it can be called the New Generation AU. In the future, Randy took the place of Messager as well as the Ninja Guardian, while Brent became the new Sword Smith and Sorceress became their main villain. I am not really good at designing OCs so there's no next ninja yet.

However, I read a fanfic of another fandom in the form of CYOA, and it gave me new idea: just let the reader be the next ninja, it will be fun, too. (Also, this AU was inspired by an RC9GN fanfic titled from the past to the future, where future Randy became Ninja Guardian. But I couldn't find it on fanfiction.net any more. Has anyone read it? I didn't dream about it, right?)

Day 19: During that time I got even crazier after I read Enter the Nomicon. It's hard to believe I had a crazy period of shipping Randicon, even for myself. Especially weird for me since I now have a completely different view about Nomicon (peek at my Yokai Ninja AU comics). Time really can change a person, wow.

Day 21: Yes, a whole page just for this headcanon. I used the screenshots in the show because it's too hard to draw. The barrier thing is kinda like the one that held Bill's power in the range of Gravity Falls.

Day 23: Danny: the Walking Air-Conditioner. Inspired by a chapter of Secret Quartet. Danny phased his hand through the scarf. Just imagine your friend put a cold hand inside your scarf in winter. *shiver*

Day 25: Besides Ninja vine ball, there are also spike ball, gas ball, sonic ball, rainbow illusion ball, tear ball and so on. I just pick the most common one from my ninja balls headcanons to put in here.

Day 27: You may see I prefer using numbers to refer episodes, because that's how I track and rewatch them. To be more specific, I list some keywords here: NomiRandy, First Ninja, Debbie, Tengu. As fellow RC9GN Fans I'm sure you get it.

Day 30: It's a half-baked AU thing. The flowers I tried to draw are rosemary?

Wow! I actually finished all the prompts! Thank you for holding the big event! @evilspiritweek

(I don't mind sharing more details about my AUs or headcanons. *wink*)

[turtlycute]

2023 Anime Watch List

June:

This post is part of my ongoing record for the new (to me) anime I watch in 2023. I'm excited to see what new shows and films I discover as this list grows through the year.

Once again I decided to focus on anime with LGBTQ+ characters and/or themes for the month of June. There are some new shows listed but I also rewatched some of my favorites. Check out my #june anime list and #pride month anime watch tags to see my previous pride themed watches.

* indicates shows that are rewatches

Wonder Egg Priority (2021) episodes: 12 started: 6-1-23 finished: 6-2-23 rating: 7/10

Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai: The Clouds Gather (2020) film watched: 6-3-23 rating: 7/10 note: 😳

Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai: Don't Stay Gold (2021) ova watched: 6-3-23 rating: 7/10

Sasaki and Miyano* (2022) episodes: 13 started: 6-6-23 finished: 6-7-23 rating: 9.5/10

Yes, No or Maybe? (Yes ka No ka Hanbun ka) (2020) film watched: 6-13-23 rating: 8/10

Flip Flappers (2016) episodes: 13 started: 6-14-23 finished: 6-16-23 rating: 6.5/10

Fragtime (2019) film watched: 6-17-23 rating: 7.5/10

Adachi and Shimamura (2020) episodes: 12 started: 6-18-23 finished: 6-20-23 rating: 8/10

Paradise Kiss* (2005) episodes: 12 started: 6-21-23 finished: 6-21-23 rating: 9/10

Dakaichi: I'm Being Harassed By the Sexiest Man of the Year (2018) episodes: 13 started: 6-22-23 finished: 6-24-23 rating: 7.5/10

Previous Months:

January Watch List

February Watch List

March Watch List

April Watch List

May Watch List

[brian-in-finance]

Screenshot: Blacklanderz

S03E12 The Bakra • 3 December 2017 Official Script

Outlander Rewatch 2023 Countdown To Season 7

Favourite Word

Oh, so you'll do your part to entertain the heathen slaves for no payment in return, but not for our patron? Has she no been kind and munificent to us here? Now, when she brings the governor over, add his stone to these and deliver the prophecy. — Archie

Photos: Starz

Favourite Line

What a peculiar pastime. — John

Gif: @userkayjay

Favourite Image

Willoughby looks up from his admirers and notices a white woman off to one side speaking with an elderly SLAVE WOMAN. It’s Margaret Campbell, looking prettier than we realized she could -- and Willoughby is instantly smitten. Claire has not seen her, but as Willoughby watches, Margaret takes the Slave Woman’s hands in hers and leans in to whisper some secret. It’s kind and intensely personal.

Screenshots: Outlander-Online

Gif: @all-that-feminist-drama

Remember… well, it certainly is a pleasure to finally meet the love that was his... every heartbeat. — Lord John Grey

41st of 75 • Saturday, 13 May 2023

[absolutebl]

My Top 60 BLs - The Elite 10% of 600 Watched

It's happened again, another year, another 100 BLs watched. We have just tipped the BL tracking spreadsheet over into 600 BLs watched. (by moi).

SO after watching 600 BLs, here are my top 60:

Seven Days - Japan 2015 (oldest BL on this list, also holds #1 spot, cute)

We Best Love: No. 1 For You & Fighting Mr. 2nd - Taiwan 2021

Semantic Error - Korea 2022

Light On Me - Korea 2021

Until We Meet Again - Thai 2019

Our Dating Sim - Korea 2023

To My Star - Korea 2021

Color Rush 1 - Korea 2021

Old Fashion Cupcake - Japan 2022

Takara-kun and Amagi-kun - Japan 2022

Minato’s Laundromat - Japan 2022

My Beautiful Man - Japan 2021

Cherry Blossoms After Winter - Korea 2022

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line - Taiwan 2018

Cherry Magic - Japan 2020

The Eighth Sense - Korea 2023

Bad Buddy - Thai 2022

A Tale of Thousand Stars - Thai 2021

My School President - Thai 2023

Love Tractor - Korea 2023

The New Employee - Korea 2023

Oxygen - Thai 2020

Be Loved In House: I Do - Taiwan 2021

Lovely Writer - Thai 2021

He’s Coming to Me - Thai 2019

Blueming - Korea 2022

Unintentional Love Story - Korea 2023

Step By Step - Thai 2023

My Ride - Thai 2022

La Pluie - Thai 2023

Wish You - Korea 2020

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku - Japan 2023

Not Me - Thai 2022

Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding - Korea 2021

Love By Chance - Thai 2018

See You After Quarantine? - Taiwan 2021

Addicted - China 2016

Long Time No See - Korea 2017

My Tooth Your Love - Taiwan 2022

Why R U? - Thai 2020

The Tasty Florida - Korea 2021

About Youth - Taiwan 2022

SOTUS - Thai 2016

DNA Says Love You - Taiwan 2022

My Love Mix Up - Japan 2021

Roommates of Poongduck 304 - Korea 2022

The Eclipse - Thai 2022

Dark Blue Kiss - Thai 2019

Oh! Boarding House - Korea 2022

My Day - Pinoy 2020

Ocean Likes Me - Korea 2022

Bed Friend - Thai 2023

Cutie Pie - Thai 2022

Life: Love on the Line - Japan 2020

Love Class - Korea 2022

Restart After Come Back Home - Japan 2020

Tinted With You - Korea 2022

2gether - Thai 2020

Choco Milk Shake - Korea 2022

Destiny Seeker - Thai 2023

600 BLs - My Top 60 Notes

Bold = 10/10 (#1 … #8)

Italics = 9/10 (#9 … #33)

everything else is 8/10 (there are more 8/10s)

These are my personal preferences. If you don't see one of your favorites there it may still have scored an 8 just not made it onto the list.

Or... I didn't like is as much as you think I should.

Relative ranking isn't fixed. I basically just asked myself which ones would I want to rewatch right... now.

Absolute BL not included because it’s parody

Love is Science? & Puppy Honey not included because BL is a B-plot

Word of Honor has been censored off the list. Fuck that noise.

The following are my top 3 shorts:

A First Love Story - Korea 2021

Just Friends? - Korea 2009 (would have been the oldest on the list)

Some More - Korea 2018

This is as of the Aug 2023.

Not responsible for any additional awesome BLs that have aired since then.

Next up... 700 BLs. Expect me to do this again - next year. Unless I'm dead of course.

(Here's the last time I did this.)

[mummelthecryptid]

ATTENTION MASHBLR

some of you may have already seen this post last year about S*T*A*S*H aka stacked mash, where we try and rewatch mash in the order it aired in.

Well! tomorrow S*T*A*S*H 2023 officially starts with "The general flipped at dawn". If anyone wants to participate here is the link to the google doc detailing all the episodes :)

feel free to put gifsets, paralells or assortet thoughts under the S*T*A*S*H hashtag if you participate and have fun <3

[batcrooks]

THE BATCROOKS AWARDS 2023

This year, I kept track of every piece of media I consumed for the whole year. I didn't keep track of individual Youtube videos (which I watched hundreds of, they're my main background noise), but I did track every Book, Video Game, TV Show/Web Series, and Movie. Here are my BEST OF 2023 (year of release may vary).

Best Movie: Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse I only actually saw 3 new release movies this year: Spider-verse, Barbie, and The Boy and the Heron. So the competition wasn't very fierce, but I was glad to sneak Heron in there at the end just to make sure (I found it very pretty, but too nonsensical and weirdly paced.) Spider-verse was a little disappointing (toooo long) but it was definitely the funnest new movie I saw this year.

Best TV Show: Silo I saw a couple actual TV shows this year, but for pure fun had watching and theorizing, Silo wins. Is it the actual best TV of the year? Almost definitely not. But these are my awards so it wins. You can't leave the silo!!!!

Best Web Series: Game Changer Season 5 I'm not sure if I can properly justify the category difference between Silo (on Apple+) and Game Changer; both are technically web series. But I watched Silo on a TV, and it just seems more like a TV show. So I have awarded Best Web Series to Game Changer, because I like it just a little more than Make Some Noise. I also watched a lot of Dimension 20 this year for the first time, but they're not 2023. I'm being wishy washy on the category requirements lol.

Best Video Game: Baldur's Gate 3 This game was so good at one point I was playing two saves simultaneously, just for fun. I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said about it before lol. And it was MULTIPLAYER. Sourdeer and I played this game all the way through TWICE. We finished it the first time and then spent like 4 days trying to find something else to play before deciding we just wanted to play it again, evil-style.

Best Video Game I Didn't Directly Play: The Curse of the Golden Idol A lot of (usually bad) video games I experience through "Cat Plays a Game" and its twin show "Sourdeer Plays a Game"; the hit show streaming exclusively on discord between my friends lol. Sour played this one, technically, although as an asymmetric multiplayer experience it's hard to beat. I want there to be five million games just like this one. I wish I could wipe my memory and do it again. We already devoured the DLC. There's a sequel coming out thank god.

Best Video Game I Played All By My Lonesome: Pentiment I don't tend to play a lot of single-player video games due to lack of time mostly, but this year I managed to play Pentiment, an incredible game that really played well with the weird amount of knowledge I have about the time period and setting of the game from reading The Pillars of the Earth and its sequels. It was completely engrossing and I will probably play it again some day despite its pretty slow pace. I know I can't save everyone. But maybe I can try.

Youtuber of the Year: Jenny Nicholson I rewatched a ton of her videos this year and joined her Patreon so that I could watch the huge backlog of "ramble" videos she has. There are TWO sequels to the Evermore video in there! Hours and hours of entertainment that makes me wish I could experience more weird theme parks.

Best Book(s): The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik The last one came out in September 2022 but this is a "non-reread, new to me" category, not a new release category. Novik's Temeraire series is one of my favorites of all time, and Spinning Silver is also really good, but even still I was wary to start what initially seemed like just a snarkier, edgy magical boarding school series. But the mechanics of the world-building and the characters really won me over quick, and this has ended up being another of my favorite series.

This spreadsheet has the full 2023 list if anyone wants to see/judge me/discuss video games or books: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X7u2F_9FSvvyys5v006eQg1hIvx0bT3QuLDgy_TJasw/edit?usp=sharing

[glitch-pep]

A somewhat comprehensible essay about how the Chaotic Crossover AU was created

Word count: Around 3000 words.

Approximated reading time: 25 minutes.

Summary: Me explaning my weird thought process and the string of ideas that lead to the Chaotic Crossover AU. I wrote the essay for fun, don't take it too seriously. I'm totally not saying that because I went off topic a few times.

It's seperated into 10 sections so that it'll be easier to read. This is my first attempt at posting a longer piece of my writing as well as an essay, I tried to make it interesting and entertaining.

I hope you'll enjoy! 💚💛💜💙

#1

It was around some point at the beginning of the year 2023 that my mom and I randomly decided to watch the movie Ocean's 8 together. I'm usually really picky about movies because my attention span is terrible and if I get bored I don't wanna watch anymore, but when she told me it was about a heist I was hooked. I love heist movies, I always did, and I loved this movie too, it's fun and actually funny and charismatic, with a decent twist to it that I won't spoil, but I definitely do recommend that you give it a watch.

Anyways, that day changed everything. The moment the movie was over, the moment that I went upstairs to my room, I had no real idea what I was getting myself into. I put on my headphones, put on "Mission Impossible Theme - Electric Guitar Cover by Kfir Ochaion - ALP Guitars" on loop, I took my purple hula hoop and I started to pace around my room trying to come up with ideas while spinning it around like a weird stim toy. Ideas for what, you may ask?

For my oc's to be in a heist together, of course.

#2

You see, my mind is very easily influenced. That's definitely not a good thing to be honest, but I don't know how to phrase it differently. Basically, whenever I watch something I immediately start thinking of oc ideas that have something to do with it. If I watch a movie about cowboys I'll be trying to make a cowboy au in my head, If I watch a movie about a royal ball I'll be imagining them all dolled up at a fancy event.

You can bet your ass, that I, heist movie fanatic, wanted my oc's to be in a heist together real bad. Thing is... at the time, I had a teeny tiny little problem that made this idea a little difficult...

I literally only had two oc's to work with.

Those two being Charlie and Mina.

The girlies. The legends. The og's.

...but yeah, still. Two oc's isn't a lot to work with. I did have Charlie as a plot starter, she's literally a thief, of course she'd want to go on a badass heist to steal a bunch of valuables. But how on earth would Charlie convince Mina of all people to go on a heist with her?

Besides... these two are a fun duo, but they're not entertaining enough on their own, seeing only the two of them interact constantly will get bored real quick...

But did you think that stopped me, dear reader? Oh no, no no no no no. I didn't let go of this concept. I felt a mighty need. I NEEDED to see a group of my own special little guys on a wacky heist together.

#3

In an act of desperation, I literally thought about bringing back my old Ducktales oc's and the Club Penguin oc's I had recently scraped. The Club Penguin oc's were a no go, I firmly decided to turn those into humans and to work on them at some point in the future. As for the Ducktales ones, I'd have to rewatch an entire show to be able to properly rewrite and redesign them and I didn't feel like doing that...

...but then, I remembered two oc ideas that were lingering in my mind, waiting to be thought of. A Making Fiends oc, which I did try to create but ultimately scraped the idea of cuz I couldn't make the design look right, and a Welcome Home oc concept, of a sleep themed character with a moon head.

While I was going to start to work on the Welcome Home one, I still didn't wanna tackle the Making Fiends one. So, in my mind, I firstly created a weird meta version of the au we know today.

I started to design and slowly form a personality for moon girl. While I was doing that, I added her to the heist even though she was nowhere near done yet.

As for the Making Fiends guy... well, he was going to be a self aware scraped character who was supposed to be able to exist only in this au, and nowhere else. It was supposed to be an universe where everyone is self aware that they're characters, and that I, their creator, exist.

The guy was supposed to be very mad at me specifically at all times, because the girls got their own lores and stories in their og universes, meanwhile his only role is to fill up space in a heist scenario.

I remember getting the idea that, before I even post about these two, that I should create a series of fake screenshots where I'd showcase these two without explaining who they are, as a sorta little thing that only I would really understand the context of.

...and this is where things changed.

For fake screenshots you need fake scenarios, for fake scenarios you have to imagine the characters interract. 

#4

The very first idea I had for this was Charlie, excitedly breaking into the guys house and then trying to convince him to join her crazy heist plan, and him of course not wanting to.

It was this bickering that I really liked. It was this bickering that I found insanely entertaining.

It was this bickering that ultimately saved both Charlie and Milo as characters.

These two are at their BEST, when they have someone to go against, a rival. Someone to argue and fight with. These two basically shaped each other as characters.

Most of Milo's personality was created while I imagined him arguing with Charlie like they're in a Danganronpa trial. And while Charlie's personality didn't change, it definitely expanded. The Charlie from a year ago isn't the Charlie we have now.

Also, I gotta add this, Charlie and Milo are basically Ash and Five but in a different font, I have realized that only later on, and I really love this dynamic. I won't explain who those two are in detail, if you know you know.

So, we have established that these two helped and pushed each other to become the best versions of themselves.

But let's be real, there ain't no way in hell Charlie's gonna convince Milo, even the Milo we have today, to participate in a heist that easily.

So, what does Charlie do?

Drag moon girl into it, of course.

#5

I thought to myself... huh, what if Mr. Serious had a soft spot for moon girl? And then Milo proceeded to shape Molly's character into place, with one of the most beloved dynamics I've made so far. Molly changed Milo a lot too, of course.

Molly is the thing that made me realize that Milo is at his second best when he has someone to care for, someone to love. Eventually this love did spread to Charlie and Mina as well, but he doesn't show it towards them the same way.

Charlie and Molly changed each other in a way that made me realize that Molly is at her best when she has someone to lead her. A lot of Charlie's personality came to be from me imagining her explaining something to Molly in a cool leader type of way.

And then there's Mina. Now you're gonna say, Mina's the odd one out. Mina's the only one who hasn't changed at all since I first introduced her.

Mina has changed, she just changed the least. All three of them shaped her character to be more caring and less cold, which isn't very obvious... given that it's Mina we're talking about.

Heh... I guess ya could say, that she was too lazy to change any more than that. Mina's the most simple character out of all of them, I don't wanna change that too much. Her simple character is fine, and it's at it's best when it's put together with complicated characters. And welp, we got three complicated mfs right here.

All of these dynamics were born while I was imagining them in the heist scenario. You forgot about the heist already, didn't you? I can't blame you, I did too... for a long time.

#6

I just started to imagine them in different scenarios and those kinda made me forget about the heist one, but, within this au the heist thing did happen... well, it was supposed to.

Basically the au began with them all just being thrown into this white room with four doors lined up before them. Each of them had a missing item from their inventories that they wanted to get back. They got to know each other a little while they were going through each other's universes, they found the items and that was it for a while.

Until Charlie found that a new door showed up in the room. The door lead to the front of a giant building, which turned out to be some rich guy's massive mansion. And of course the mansion was full of valuables that Charlie wanted to get her hands on, but failed attempt after failed attempt... she just couldn't get in.

That's when she realized that it would be far easier if she had someone with her... y'know, preferably three people. And boom she's at it with the convincing. Mina agrees cuz she wants to avoid another one of her aunts weedings, Molly agrees cuz Charlie told her that it's a good thing that they're doing this, Milo agrees cuz Molly is a part of it, and because he's baffled that she managed to drag Mina into it.

And because they were like in a heist together I almost called the au the "Charlie's Angels AU". Because y'know... there's Charlie who's conveniently named that, and the other three who's names all start with an M. I honestly still think it'll be a clever name for some sorta au, but I went for the name Chaotic Crossover AU because it's more simple and it explains what the au is about better. Besides, I feel like if I actually went for the title that's a movie reference I'd have to constantly stick to the whole heist thing or otherwise it wouldn't make much sense.

The only other type of name I considered before I went for the one we have today, is something along the lines of MMCM AU. Maybe the letters were arranged differently, I honestly don't exactly remember. Yeah, I didn't get too creative with this one, it honestly sounds like a band name to me... and yes, I did consider making a band au but nah, I'm going to use the band concept for something else. Also there's lore reasons as to why these 4 wouldn't really be capable of being in a band together.

So they meet up to create a plan, they have fun chatting and messing around for the whole day, only to find that the door which Charlie talked about dissapeared. She wasn't lying about it, she even took pictures as proof.

But, oh well, does is matter that much anyways? Maybe the real treasure... the real heist, was the friends we made along the way.

And, it was.

#7

Besides this beginning, there is no other plot to this au.

The rest of it is just them mindlessly having fun with each other as I put them into random scenarios and funky outfits.

I said this somewhere before, but, the au has no actual ending or middle, just a beginning.

Time doesn't flow the same, they're just meant to stay the same age, time has been stopped, basically.

There was supposed to be a plot at some point, but I realized that I would spoil a lot of stuff from their actual canon stories, and I am always overly cautious with not spoiling people.

Also, the characters here don't line up 100% with their canon counterparts, even if they do for the most part, because I erased their canon problems for the sake of having them be actually happy unlike their canon selves.

Thing is, to what extent did I erase these problems?

Because, for some of them, if I erase the problem then they're not the same character anymore...

So it's basically a weird situation where they are and aren't themselves...

...I'm losing you, aren't I? Yeah, I'm losing it too.

What am I trying to say?

I'm trying to explain in a comprehensive way that the Chaotic Crossover AU makes no logical sense.

...unless, you hear me out about the explanation I came up with because I feel the need for everything to magically make sense.

#8

I present to you,

The Dollhouse Explanation

Which says, that the oc's in this au, are doll versions of the actual characters.

1. The white room with the doors is actually a dollhouse. Every universe they go to is me adding another playset to it.

2. Molly, Mina, Milo and Charlie are dolls. I play with them, making up roleplays and scenarios. I dress them up in different outfits very often, like one does with dolls.

3. They don't age because they're dolls and dolls don't age, so it seems as if time has stopped.

Could some of this apply to the act of making oc's and stories in general?

Yeah.

Does this change anything about the au?

No. Not really.

Why did I add this to the essay?

I showed it to my friend and she said that I should keep this part so I'm taking her word for it.

(She doesn't have Tumblr or other socials but shout-out to her!)

Have I watched too many theory videos on YouTube?

Yeah.

Should I stop?

Yeah, but we both know that I won't. :)

Also, the au was inspired and influenced by cartoons in danganronpa, which is basically a giant crossover in itself.

I'm saying this because, like in cidr, the characters and designs clearly aren't from the same universes, they still kept the each individual art styles from the shows, and I really liked the look of it. But, you could still tell that the sprites are from the same project because of the lineart and shading. It's the same situation in this au.

#9

...this is a cursed addition to this essay that I, on one hand, don't wanna cover cuz Part A of it is the cringiest and worst development fact about the au and I've kinda wanted to just pretend it never happened, but it influenced Part B in a way as to where I can't not mention it, and also I find Part B incredibly interesting.

Ok, so, Milo was always pansexual, but Charlie used to be bisexual before I settled on her being a lesbian.

...I'm just gonna rip the bandage off, Milo x Charlie was supposed to be a thing.

I know, I know, eugh. Look, I will think of many romantic character combinations just in case I might hit the jackpot, I like to explore romantic dynamics as much as platonic ones.

And, for like... a month, I was genuienly planning to make these two slowly get crushes on each other, I was gonna hint towards it with some sorta ship art.

But then, I was reconsidering things.

I started to contemplate the meaning of life, as well as all of my life choices and how they affected my life, me and my oc's. I looked into the distance, and then I took one, good, longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg, look at Charlie. And then, finally, like a light at the end of the tunnel, my critical thinking skills tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around.

"Her ass would never date a man." it said. I nodded, and shed a tear. It may have taken me too long to realize it, but at least I did.

And that's the story of how Charlie became a lesbian instead! :D

#10

And no, before you ask, Charlie wouldn't like Milo in that way even if he was female, or when he's presenting himself as more feminine like in the one purple design I made for him. She doesn't find him appealing in a romantic way at all. Same goes for Milo with Charlie.

Besides, both have standards... and different types.

Their relationship is far more interesting and genuine if it's presented from a purely platonic perspective, which it is, and which it always will be.

Basically, they're besties, your honor. Case closed.

The same thing goes for another ship I considered while I was still figuring out everyone's sexualities, Charlie x Mina.

I admit, I hate this one less, but still, it's the same situation.

They're besties, your honor. Case closed yet again.

Ever since I decided to keep it all platonic, thank heavens I did, I've always had this underlying fear in the back of my head that, somehow, people are still going to see it as romantic. I remember when I made the drawing of Milo and Charlie standing next to each other in greaser inspired outfits, I was like, oh crap, are ppl gonna see them as a couple?

But no one did. A decent amount of people saw it, and no one said a thing.

And I think that's nice. Beautiful, even.

I've seen plenty of characters which were, if you ask me, forcefully pushed together in a romantic way, despite the fact that they were clearly meant to just be friends. Having this sense of control over things, being able to determine the right path for these oc's, it gives me a sense of peace and satisfaction.

Everything is in its place.

Balanced, as it should be. 

Anyways let's talk about how this decision made everyone in this au absolutely unshippable with each other in every conceivable way.

1. Molly is an adult the other three are kids if you don't think this is a no go get the fuck away from my blog.

2. Mina is aroace and would never be in a romantic relationship, so that's a no go too.

3. The only two left are Milo and Charlie. Charlie is a lesbian and since Milo is a guy that's a no go.

This happened completely on accident and I realized it on accident too, but I'm not complaining.

Hooray to friendship! Hooray to platonic love! Hooray to platonic relationships!

They're just as valuable and beautiful and powerful as romantic ones!

Go tell your friends or family or partner or pet you love them!

You'd be surprised how happy they'd be to hear it.

And that's how the Chaotic Crossover AU was created.

If you've actually made it to the end, thank you for sticking around, you beloved madlad.

I hope you have a lovely day! 💚💛💜💙

[waitmyturtles]

SUNDAY SHOW ROUND-UP!

Goddamn -- there are so many shows! The holiday season and many life obligations are preventing me from writing meta about most of these shows except for the big priorities (my Old GMMTV Challenge project and Last Twilight). So here's a quick round-up of what I'm thinking, feeling, etc., about the dramas I have going on.

1) CHERRY MAGIC THAILAND IS DELIGHTFUL AND FULFILLING TO MY SOUL AND LIFE

I've mentioned before! I'm a HUUUUUGE Cherry Magic Japan girlie. I am a major defender of the movie, AMA. When I joined Tumblr last year, besides Old Fashion Cupcake, Cherry Magic was....I think it was the first gigantic rabbithole I fell in. I love, unabashedly, everything about this franchise, and I think TayNew are carrying it splendidly so far. (Also, the original mangaka of the whole Cherry Magic franchise, Toyota Yuu, is 100% on board with the adaptation and is regularly tweeting about it, and just! COULD THAT BE MORE CUTE AND REASSURING FOR US CM GIRLIES, NO I DON'T THINK SO, BIG HAPPY SIGHS.)

So the original manga exists in the Cherry Magic Thailand universe, huh? I'm gonna admit my unreasonable optimism to say that I am not-so-secretly hoping for a Machida Keita/Akaso Eiji/Kurosawa/Adachi cameo -- but the manga existing in this universe jags that up a bit.

BUT! Toyokawa still exists in the universe... so does that mean that Kurosawa/Adachi do, too? I'M NOT GOING THERE, BUT I AM.

ANYWAY! I noted last month that I really appreciated seeing a lot of Japan in the Cherry Magic trailer -- "Karan-san," Karan speaking Japanese, "san juu," the fact that Toyokawa is still the company that all these guys are working for. But I also love the very overt Thai visuals -- the Buddha in Achi's apartment foreground, the offering to the monk (which replaces the onigiri guy in Cherry Magic Japan, lmao) -- I'm just, covering my mouth in happiness at noting that these details are very well-placed, and very intentional.

That's it, I enjoyed every last second of this first episode in total joy of seeing this Thai remix. With X Nuttapong behind this show -- yes, oh yes, I loved seeing literally the phrase "theory of love" in the subtitles, and good on him for going there a bit.

2) An Old GMMTV Challenge update! So, I interrupted the OGMMTVC to catch up with La Pluie, because I know LP will be on a lot of best-of-2023 lists later this month.

By episode 4 or so, I knew La Pluie had to, HAD TO, go on the OGMMTVC syllabus, so on it went. And I'm going to pause on writing about it out of chronology. I'm watching Secret Crush on You (2022) now, I'll do my watchlist thing, and I'll rewatch LP.

La Pluie was a motherfucking important show.

The subversion of the romance genre in Thai BL. I mean. Give me a mallet to crack the gigantic egg on that on. @lurkingshan's La Pluie meta round-up post has been a walking stick for me as I've stumbled to get my thoughts together around this show, and honestly, I'm not ready to write about it yet. I need to finish 2022's shows on the watchlist and get through some important 2023 rewatches to fully write about La Pluie in its context, and to understand how such an important show came about this year by way of the straightforward honesty it took in dismantling and rebuilding some very key expectations that we may have carried about romance in Thai BL before its airing.

If you haven't watched La Pluie yet, do it before this year is over. DO IT. IT'S INCREDIBLE AND SO MUCH.

3) Playboyy, episode 4: I have a lot of thoughts, and no time to write about this show, but episode 4 was really different than the first three. It was CAMPY AF, way melodramatic (wtf Zooey/Soong), but it also had many more nuggets of a plot than I had expected to see by way of Nont finally revealing himself to WAY more people than I had expected. I'm sticking with it with the expectation that Cheewin will know how to get himself out of this mess, BUT, one huge criticism -- the intimacy is getting harder to watch, because it's being lazily acted and filmed (..... you had y'alls' shorts on, Prom/Nont, ahem), and it's just a lot, and can we just, like, get more to the story, I'm gonna put that in the show's request box.

Clown theory: I think Prom knows more than he's letting on and is using Nont in some bad ways to get back at those other dudes for leaving Playboyy. But I'm trying to not get invested-invested because a) still sooooo many names to remember, GOD, and b) soooo many shows airing, my brain can't take it.

4) The Sign: I'm putting this guy on pause. I heard yesterday's episode was 90 minutes, and I can't commit to a weekend show that needs that kind of time commitment. I'm following y'all in the gifs. This is no knock on BillyBabe. I REALLY LIKE THEM TOGETHER. GO SAINT, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU. But I'll watch this when there's a lull in the midseasons.

5) What Did You Eat Yesterday?: WDYEY and Last Twilight are the best shows airing right now. When a show is so good, it doesn't need meta? That's WDYEY. Nishijima’s quiet “hai” to start the conversation with Kenji’s mom? Some of the best acting in all of BL.

The amazing @isaksbestpillow threw down some clutch background about this past Friday's episode that's WELL worth reading, about chosen family and what Kenji's family was offering to Shiro. Gorgeous, screaming, crying, etc.

That's all I got, happy Sunday, y'all! The OGMMTVC will come back with SCOY when I wrap it up, hopefully soon!